The HandBrake team has announced the release of HandBrake 0.9.3, a new version of their popular DVD to MPEG-4 converter. According to the developers, there have been well over 600 changes to HandBrake's code base since 0.9.2, including hundreds of bug fixes. Here are some of the major changes and improvements:

Well, I guess I'll give it another try. I messed around with HB in the past, and the result was always horrible, no matter what settings I tweaked. I have been using popcorn3, and really am not happy with that either.

My problem is, I do not really know much about video compression, so I am unfamiliar with all the terminology. Does anyone know of a good place to learn about the ins and outs of video compression etc?

I have downloaded a few movies from iTunes, and am really impressed with the quality for the size of the files. I have been converting full dvd rips to h.264 at twice the size of the iTunes files, and they still look really bad! (lots of artifacts)

Can anyone suggestion some specific settings in HB to get a movie file that looks good, and is around 2GB or smaller?

The best luck I have had, has been ripping DVDs in Windows using Slysoft's AnyDVD and CloneDVD, which allows you to set the target file size. It is still a video_ts file however. I would like to get similar compression results, but wind up with a quicktime compatible format.

Well, I guess I'll give it another try. I messed around with HB in the past, and the result was always horrible, no matter what settings I tweaked. I have been using popcorn3, and really am not happy with that either.

My problem is, I do not really know much about video compression, so I am unfamiliar with all the terminology. Does anyone know of a good place to learn about the ins and outs of video compression etc?

I have downloaded a few movies from iTunes, and am really impressed with the quality for the size of the files. I have been converting full dvd rips to h.264 at twice the size of the iTunes files, and they still look really bad! (lots of artifacts)

Can anyone suggestion some specific settings in HB to get a movie file that looks good, and is around 2GB or smaller?

The best luck I have had, has been ripping DVDs in Windows using Slysoft's AnyDVD and CloneDVD, which allows you to set the target file size. It is still a video_ts file however. I would like to get similar compression results, but wind up with a quicktime compatible format.

Thanks in advance for any tips

Have you ever used the presets? I use the appletv set with 2 passes, looks great.

Have you ever used the presets? I use the appletv set with 2 passes, looks great.

Presets in Popcorn, or in HB?

I was using the presets in Popcorn, but I do not see any in HB.

The main problem I have with popcorn, is that it shrinks the size of the movie to where there is a wide black border on the sides of the movie, kinda like letterbox, but all the way around, making it too small to watch on my HackBook Nano. I tried changing the settings, and was unable to come up with something that filled the screen (horizontally) and still looked good.

I like that it will encode other file types, but my speeds seem to be down quite a bit. Almost half of what they were with 0.9.2. Has anyone else noticed this?

Haven't tried it yet but, I'll post results as soon as I do. (probably tomorrow) I like to think of myself as somewhat of a HB guru, if you will. I use it nearly daily for various things. Now with more functionality I hope to be able to stream line a bit and drop a few of the other apps I was using.... Time will tell..._________________Digital Marketing For Small Business Digital Marketing ForumMac Repairs & Upgrades

Have you ever used the presets? I use the appletv set with 2 passes, looks great.

Two-pass encoding really is key for fewer artifacts. Well, that and an average bitrate of at least 2000-2500kbps. Which will usually bring you in around the 2-3GB mark Aargh-a-Knot. I've also found that unchecking Turbo first pass gives me better results with action movies.

Well, first test looks pretty good. I encoded H.264 M4V, at 2500 kbs, with 2-pass and turbo first pass. However, I wound up with the directors commentary for the audio.

I'm converting another movie as a test. I went into audio and subtitles, and I'm a bit unsure what to choose.

AC3 5.1 vs AC3 Dolby?

AAC (faac) vs AC3 Passthrough?

Mixdown?

Right now, I only have some JBL creature speakers hooked up, but I've been looking around for a basic 5.1 surround system, so I'd like to have the option for that in the future, so I guess I could choose 2 audio tracks, one for each option.